JOSÉ JOYA (PHILIPPINES, 1931-1995) Untitled signed and dated \‘Joya 57\’ (upper left) oil on canvas 178.5 x 122 cm. (70 1/4 x 48 in.) Painted in 1957 José Joya is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished modern artists from the Philippines, recognised for his distinctive abstract compositions that were derived from his very personal engagements with both Eastern and Western painting traditions. Posthumously awarded National Artist of the Philippines, he not only excelled in his art, but was also academically exacting and intellectually rigorous, winning several prestigious art prizes and scholarships during his lifetime. This included a one year grant to study painting in Madrid from the Spanish government\’s Instituto de Cultura Hispanica , and later a Fulbright-Smith Mundt Scholarship which allowed him to embark upon his master\’s degree at the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, following after fellow Filipino artist Anita Magsaysay-Ho who had attended the Academy before him. It was during this pivotal moment in his artistic career that Joya painted the present Untitled lot (Lot 26), an extremely rare piece of history and the earliest work offered by Christie\’s to come to the market. Whilst at Cranbrook, Joya was part of a circle of artists who were friends with the original collectors of the work. It was acquired directly from the artist just after it had been painted and has been kept in the family collection ever since. It was one of the few paintings by Joya that were displayed proudly in the office of the family business in Michigan, USA, throughout the years. Left untitled by the artist, the painting\’s intimate history enhances our appreciation of this piece as significant of a key moment in Joya\’s early development of his practice. Joya painted mostly figurative works of objects and models prior to his time in Cranbrook. Exposed to the works of Abstract Expressionists luminaries such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, amongst others, the period between 1956 to 1957 saw Joya\’s drawing and sketches develop intensely, veering towards abstraction with every decisive stroke. Exercising a new freedom of the hand that was never encouraged under the tutelage of his traditionalistic mentor at the University of Philippines School of Fine Arts, Joya\’s new landscapes answered to no linear or fixed place in reality. Spontaneous and energetic in execution, the present painting draws from the Abstract Expressionists and their desire to tap on the primal impulses to create; unhindered by the reality of nature. Joya\’s development in this area was never entirely unexpected, with drawings and sketches that documented a keen desire to internalise the landscapes surrounding him, almost as if to digest the sights before being able to recreate the feeling or sensation of beholding the landscape before him. In his respect, his treatment of the landscape was far more oriental in its roots. In traditional Chinese painting, there is a strong sense of empathy between the artist and the landscape. Truthful depictions of what is comprehended by sight are eschewed for a revaluation of the cosmic forces and energies of the surrounding environment. It is thus this feeling of a \‘oneness\’ with Nature that preoccupied Joya\’s thoughts. While the composition could have likely been derived from several sketches, the choreographed motion of the painting affirms the authority of the artist as an interpreter of Nature\’s energy, eventually translating that into the language of paint on canvas. Joya\’s landscape is painted in a vertical format, mimicking the orientation of Chinese scrolls. Unlike Western horizontal landscapes that utilise lines of perspective, the vertical orientation allows for a depth of vision through the intuitive layering of different elements, and the use of negative areas to allow for spaces to \‘breathe\’. Visually, Joya\’s works appear to be influenced by the aesthetics of Hans Hofmann—both use layered blocks of colour to create depth on their surfaces without any directed perspective. Ideas of what appears to emerge or retreat is all very instinctively based on our perceptions of colour. Wu Guanzhong\’s landscape paintings adopt a similar approach with colour. Speckling small blocks of a bright colours over a traditional ink landscape, or long languid strokes of deep black over the translucent grey wash of the mountain ranges, Wu\’s works rely on our intuitive perceptions of colour to adjust our expectations of the relationship between foreground and background. Similarly, areas of red appear to advance whereas patches of black recede into the canvas in Joya\’s painting. Using fewer colours with greater tonal variations, Joya\’s more oriental aesthetic sensibilities produce a more austere abstraction of a landscape, only to be disrupted by a stray drip of the paint, or a patch of textured impasto. What the painting may seemingly lack in refinement, it makes up for in raw spontaneity - of a bold, experimental period in the artist\’s early career. Though untitled, the painting speaks for itself as an extremely important work in Joya\’s oeuvre. Significant of his internalisation of several key influences in his practice – Rothko\’s reverence of colour, Hofmann\’s compositional structures, and the overall logic of traditional Chinese painting – the present painting traces the roots of his more widely recognised abstract landscapes of the sixties.

Jose Joya LOVE RITES signed and dated 1979; signed, titled and dated Feb 13 1979 on the reverse oil on wood panel 182.5 by 243.5 cm; 71 3/4 by 95 3/4 in. Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Literature Francisco Arcellana, Joya, Dick Baldovino Enterprises, Manila, 1996, double-page color illustration Catalogue Note \“…the artist is concretizing his need for communication. He has an irresistible urge to reach that level of spiritual satisfaction and to project what he is and what he thinks through his work.\” - Jose Joya Jose Joya is celebrated as one of the first modern artists in the Philippines to venture into abstraction. His avant-garde, fresh style marked a distinct departure from the customary path of his contemporaries, who explored their creativity within the boundaries of representational art. Finding an affinity within the American School of Abstract Expressionism, Joya produced dynamic works while in the frenzy of Action Painting. This quintessential broad and gestural style not only resulted in a personal dialogue, unique to Joya, but it would later represent the collective consciousness of the nation. The present lot, a shaped panel composition, truly depicts the Filipino soul. This rare work conjures an image of rice padi fields, filtered through the caprices of Joya\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’s imagination. A quintessential part of life and livelihood in the nation, padi fields frequent the rural countryside in the Philippines. Harmonizing his personal responses with the natural environment, Joya conjures images of a tranquil moment. It is imaginable that Joya was concerned with articulating his sensory experience upon beholding this magnificent countryside. This vista, morphed into the suspended fields sprawling across the subconscious, presents a subject so intertwined within the memories, thoughts and dreams of the Filipino people. Portrayed from an aerial viewpoint, the scene transforms into a fiery assemblage of warmly colored arenas, reduced to their basic geometries. Rather than emulating the details of the landscape with technical verisimilitude, he captures the sensations he absorbed from the view, ultimately immortalizing his ephemeral perception. Given Joya\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’s penchant for form and structure, which is so evident in this particular work, it is no surprise that he had an interest in architecture at a fledgling age. Though he was introduced to the impressionist style and romanticized works of Filipino maestros Fernando Amorsolo and Tolentino when studying in the University of the Philippines, the young artist felt more an affinity toward the budding trends of modernism in his nation, which was at the time only at its most infant stages. In 1953, he graduated with a Bachelor\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’s Degree in Fine Art as the university\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’s first Magna cum Laude student in history. That same year, Joya was one of the youngest artists who participated in the first Exhibition of Non-Objective Art in Tagala at the Philippine Art Gallery and would rise quickly to standing as one of the primary advocates of this New York inspired idiom, characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity. Joya reduces the panoramic landscape to its simplest forms, echoing geometries that appear in the works by American abstract expressionists Robert Delauney and Hans Hoffman. In the eminent words of Hofmann, \“the ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.\” Jose Joya deemed the minutiae of the image insignificant, emphasizing more on the unity of lines and color planes that manifested the overall essence of the picture. The shapes in Love Rites become more curved as they extend towards the edges of the canvas. Joya imbues the work is a lyrical moment by incorporating a circular shape at the bottom right of the work, one that stands out against the others. In his non-representational works, Delauney presents variegated shapes wedged together to form an indiscernible mass hanging across the picture plane. Though Delauney acknowledges the flat nature of his canvas, he also permeates the painting with a sense of depth by purposefully overlapping these shapes and utilizing contrasting color tones. Similarly, Joya invents an element of perspective by modulating and saturating certain hues he may have found most striking in his landscape, eventually confining them in enclosed compartments. Despite the fact that neither artist imbues their works with a vanishing point, they manage to imbue their works with three-dimensionality with the power of color. With his sharp understanding of color theory, Joya utilizes a premeditated, luscious array of hues to almost magically cause some amorphous forms to recede into the distance, while others protrude. By meticulously placing these blocks of color against one another, he creates chromatic tensions and releases in his composition, ultimately creating the impression of a landscape. As supported by Wassily Kandinsky\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’s revered color theories documented in his writing Du Spirituel dans L\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’art, cooler tones such as Joya\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’s gray blocks possess a \‘concentric movement\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’ and thus, they appear to move away from the viewer[1]. In contrast, the warmer areas such as the bright orange contours appear to move closer towards the spectator. Red, contrarily, is considered a forceful color that Kandinsky described as \‘lively and agitated\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’; it may carry with it the element of passion so imbued within the title that Joya chose: \‘Love Rites\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’. In order to create the brown tones, Joya needed to mix black with red, in order to produce a \‘harder\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’ tone[2]. However, he invented the oranges by mixing yellow and red. These oranges impart an \‘irradiating movement on its surroundings\’\’\’\’\’\’\’\’, almost illuminating the surrounding environment[3]. Joya ensconces these color fields with sweeping, graceful black outlines and calligraphic gesticulations. These are linear forces that provide a sense of stability to the work, as well as creating the illusion of shadows. The brushstrokes appear to have been applied buoyantly with western gestural strokes, when coloring in planes and lines that were predetermined and meticulously planned. Joya applied paint spontaneously and passionately, using brushes or spatula and sometimes directly squeezed from tube and splashed across picture plane. Rather than blending tones to create measured gradations that could result in a realistic image, Joya strictly concerns himself with compositional arrangement, three-dimensional illusion and color relationships. Joya dedicated his life to capturing the whims of his vivid imagination, from intuitions, reveries and emotions, through the lens of abstract forms. Eight years after his death, he was deemed a National Artist for his groundbreaking efforts in pioneering Filipino abstraction. This impressive, rare painting stands as a testament to one of the most significant artists in modern Filipino art history and one of the first advocates of abstract art in the nation. 1 Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l'art, éd. Denoël, 1989, p. 148 2 Refer to 1, p. 160 3 Refer to 1, p. 162 Fig. 1 Jose Joya, Hills of Nikko, oil on canvas, 172.7 by 198cm, Collection of National Museum of the Philippines